National Security and Iraq Winning Issues for GOP

But has anyone ever challenged the Democrats on the absurdity of this position? If we were justified in attacking al-Qaeda in Afghanistan because they trained there to attack us, then why aren't we justified in fighting them in Iraq since they are attacking us there?

Besides, we have the right and duty to attack them wherever they are. They are the enemy.

A strong case has been made that al-Qaeda's presence in Iraq preceded our attack. But irrespective of that, they attacked us and provoked sectarian violence there in furtherance of their own evil purposes.

Whether we had a right to attack Iraq, which we did for a multitude of reasons already exhaustively discussed, is a completely separate question from whether we have a right to fight al-Qaeda there.

The Democrats' untenable position is that since we didn't find stockpiles of WMD in Iraq, we have no business fighting or defeating al-Qaeda there. They conveniently ignore that we had removed Saddam Hussein from power and were trying to establish order when al-Qaeda joined with Iraqi insurgents to prevent that from occurring. Democrats need to get this through their heads: Al-Qaeda is the aggressor in Iraq, not the United States.

Democrats pretend that if we will just withdraw from Iraq, al-Qaeda will forgive us and leave us alone. They will never leave us alone as long as they are capable of fighting us, no matter when we leave. But if we do leave before completing the job, al-Qaeda will be emboldened and become an even fiercer enemy, which will increase Middle East instability and invite further attacks against our interests abroad and at home.

I don't care how charismatic, nice, eloquent or brilliant Obama is. If he were to pursue precipitous withdrawal and the other terrorist-friendly policies he and Democrats support, our national security will be exponentially imperiled. It's time for Republicans to quit being on the defensive on these issues and take this fight to the public.